February 2008: Becky Moores files for divorce from Padres owner John Moores after more than 44 years of marriage.

Dec. 10, 2008:MLB.com and the U-T report that John Moores has hired Goldman Sachs to identify buyers for the ballclub.

Dec. 15, 2008: Moores confirms the Padres are for sale.

Jan. 3, 2009: Jeff Moorad resigns as managing partner and CEO of the Diamondbacks after reaching “an agreement in principle” to buy the Padres.

Feb. 3, 2009: Moores agrees to transfer of ownership of the Padres to a group of businessmen led by former player agent Moorad. Moorad says the target date to complete the purchase is “three to five years.”

March 25, 2009: Jeff Moorad assumes the roles of Padres CEO and vice chairman of the board as his group completes the first stage of its purchase, paying about $100 million for 35 percent of the club.

March 25, 2010: Moorad’s partnership raises its stake in the club to 49 percent. It is believed to owe Moores approximately $145 million for the remaining 51 percent.

Jan. 12: Major league owners put off approval of the sale to Moorad.

March 9: Moorad withdraws his application to baseball to finalize the purchase in order to focus on getting MLB’s approval for the team’s new TV deal with Fox.

March 22: Moorad announces he is stepping down as CEO.

In a move that raises even more questions about the Padres’ ownership situation, Jeff Moorad resigned Thursday after three years as the club’s chief executive officer. Team President Tom Garfinkel was named to replace him on an interim basis.

At the least, this development casts serious doubt on ownership control of the team being transferred to Moorad and his partners from majority owner John Moores, a process that began in early 2009. The ultimate meaning of Thursday’s news may take months to unravel.

Moorad, a former player agent, said he would remain with the Padres as vice chairman, although a source said he no longer would have an office at Petco Park.

“It does start making you ask a lot of questions,” Padres center fielder Cameron Maybin said at the club’s spring training complex in Peoria, Ariz.

“Shocker,” pitcher Clayton Richard said, “is a good word.”

Moores first put the team up for sale in late 2008 while he was going through divorce proceedings with his wife of 44 years. Moorad’s group agreed to purchase the team on an installment plan in February 2009, which is when Moorad was installed as CEO.

But the ability of Moorad and his partners to buy out the 51 percent interest still owned by Moores and have Moorad become the Padres’ “control” person has been an open question since a January meeting of Major League Baseball owners. A planned approval vote bogged down at the committee level before being dropped from the agenda.

Issues Moorad initially described then as “technical” proved to be more than that, and the prospect of his gaining controlling interest in the club met with stern resistance from a group of owners spearheaded by Chicago White Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf and Ken Kendrick, managing general partner of the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team Moorad previously served as CEO and part owner. Several industry sources believe Moores himself ultimately joined the ranks of Moorad’s opponents.

Earlier this month, with the Padres’ ownership situation again scheduled for discussion at a meeting of baseball’s ownership committee and executive council, Moorad withdrew his application, presumably anticipating an election he could not win.

“They really do play old-fashioned country hardball,” an investor in another major league club said Thursday. “What other industry lets you buy 49 percent of the company, lets you become CEO, and then you get hammered?”

Baseball’s ownership approval process is two-tiered. Moorad was successfully vetted as a minority partner in the Diamondbacks in 2004, and five years later began gradual acquisition of Moores’ interest in the Padres. But prospective “control” persons face a higher standard of scrutiny — particularly in the wake of Frank McCourt’s troubled tenure with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig cited unspecified “financial” issues in explaining the decision to delay the January vote on Moorad’s investment group. Though Moorad and Moores said the funds to complete the transaction were in escrow, baseball insiders expressed concerns that Moorad’s group would siphon off some of the upfront payment on a Fox Sports Net television rights deal to repay partners rather than to improve the ballclub.

If Moores is still inclined (or obliged) to sell in the wake of his 2011 divorce settlement, he stands to do so now at a substantially higher price than when the original deal was signed in early 2009. Since Moorad bought in, Forbes magazine’s estimate of the Padres’ worth has risen from $401 million to $458 million.

Though Moorad’s deal with Moores includes an option to complete the purchase of the club into 2014, insiders interpreted Thursday’s announcement as an indication of Moores reasserting his authority — as evidenced by his involvement in the still-pending Fox Sports Net television deal.

“All good,” Moorad said via text message. “Will continue as Vice-Chairman and focus on the Fox/Padres relationship — still wearing the ‘SD’ with pride.”

Reached by telephone Thursday night, Moores said, “I can’t say anything. I hate to do it. Right now, I don’t have a clue.”

Selig did not return a call seeking comment.

“We’re going to focus on baseball,” said Josh Byrnes, the Padres’ general manager. “We’re trying to put the best team on the field that we can.”